The Yugoslav Army - Reason for a New Conflict Between Podgorica and Belgrade

PERSECUTION OF AMNESTIED SOLDIERS

AIM Podgorica, January 29, 2000

At the same time when the Federal Constitutional Court passed its decisions, the Army of Yugoslavia (VJ) launched new campaign of persecuting conscripts in Montenegro thus showing that it was not ready to accept and respect any regulations of the local authorities - including the Law on Amnesty adopted late last year.

Text: Last week the Constitutional Court of FRY initiated the procedure for determining the constitutionality of the Montenegrin Law on Amnesty. If this Law is also proclaimed unconstitutional, as it is expected, the Army of Yugoslavia will have free hand to continue with the persecution of Montenegrin citizens who, at the time of NATO intervention, refused to place themselves under the command of Milosevic's generals. They refused to kill and get killed in Kosovo.

According to the information of the local authorities, military-judicial authorities have either charged or already sentenced over 15 thousand Montenegrins for one of the following crimes: failure to answer military call up and avoiding military service, draft evading by disablement or deception, securing of illegal draft exemption, wilful leaving and deserting of VJ, avoidance of regulations and check-up and failure to carry out material obligations towards VJ.

That is why last November the Republican Assembly adopted a law on their amnesty in a summary proceedings. The first Article of this Law stipulates that all persons who have committed any of the above listed crimes in the period between June 1, 1998 and June 31, 1999 "shall not be persecuted and will be pardoned from the execution of the pronounced valid prison sentence or fine and shall be struck from of penal register."

But, ever since then, everyone warned that the adopted Law practically does not guarantee any protection to the persecuted. That is why Goran Rodic, a lawyer from Podgorica and Military Prosecutor at the times of SFRY and YPA, in his interview for the weekly "Monitor" said: "The Law on Amnesty of the Montenegrin Assembly serves only for political marketing purposes as there is no state mechanism which could ensure its application."

Attorney Rodic further explained: "This Law in not founded on the existing legal regulations, primarily the FRY Constitution and the Constitution of the Republic of Montenegro. That practically means that no conscript who wilfully avoided military service or deserted his unit in the period indicated for amnesty, is safe and protected. Not even on the territory of Montenegro. And especially not on the Serbian territory, because, according to the central APB he can be arrested by military police anywhere on the territory of FRY and taken to the nearest military court."

This partly explains why citizens of Montenegro did not rush to the local Ministry of Justice to get their notice of amnesty. Namely, according to the data supplied by Mikosav Boskovic, counsellor to the Montenegrin Justice Minister for state administration issues, until now this ministry has received only 21 applications for amnesty. "Positive decision was brought in nineteen cases and one was rejected as the applicant was not Montenegrin national. In one case additional documentation was requested and it will be decided on very soon," said Boskovic.

It seems that other citizens of Montenegro, who for various reasons came under the meaning of the law at the time of NATO intervention - and they number several thousands - are relying more on their own hiding skills and "forgetfulness" of the VJ judicial authorities than on the power of local authorities to fulfil the undertaken obligation and protect them adequately.

Late last week, when suspicions in the applicability of the Law on Amnesty were confirmed in practice, it became clear that caution is not to be sneezed at. That is when members of the military police started a hunt for draft evaders in Podgorica trying to arrest and hand them over to military court, i.e. escort them to serve their prison sentence pronounced at the time of bombing.

For the time being there are no official information on this operation so that it is hard to estimate its scope. The only thing public learned so far is that two local families reported "uninvited guests" to the Podgorica Security Centre. In one case the MPs beat up a woman who tried to prevent them from entering and searching her house without a written authorisation when they were looking for her son. The second story is similar, with the exception of physical abuse:

"Since the adoption of the Law till today, the MPs came to our house several times looking for my son. When I told them that he was protected by the Montenegrin law, they laughed at me arrogantly and said that "our morals were obviously in crisis."

Last time (on Monday) they came they entered the house by force, without a search warrant. The maltreated and insulted me for half an hour although I told them that my son was not in Montenegro and that I did not know his whereabouts. They turned over the mattresses and threw out all clothes and bed linen from the closets. Then they warned me that they would come again and break in if I refuse to open. They kept their promise and came only few hours later. I do not know what to do and how long shall I live in fear while my son is spending his youth hiding and running," told us the mother of a 25-year old youth who deserted his VJ unit at the beginning of NATO strikes, which was then stationed in Kosovo. That is why the Military Court of Nis sentenced him to five years in prison in absentia.

What disturbed the Montenegrin public, at least its greater part, the most about this story, is the fact that MUP (Ministry of the Interior) is also unable to offer to persecuted families anything else but advice to "lie low and stay out of sight" so as not to make things even worse. Afterwards, Milan Paunovic, chief of the Podgorica Security Centre, informed all interested people that one of the subjects of official talks to be held late this week between the VJ and Montenegrin MUP would be the fate of Montenegrin citizens who are criminally persecuted by the VJ and fall under the scope of the local Law on Amnesty. The families of persecuted boys would be informed of the results of these talks - subsequently.

It turned out that for the greater part the Law on Amnesty is nothing else but a dead letter, since its practical application exclusively depends on the good will of the VJ commanding officers. In other words, it depends on the possible agreement to be achieved between Montenegrin authorities and officers of the Second Army and the VJ General Staff.

That is why there are very few people in Podgorica who believe that it is just a coincidence that the action of the VJ police followed just a few hours after the statement of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic that he knew nothing of the persecution of citizens who were "in accordance with the Montenegrin Amnesty Law absolved from all responsibility to answer the call up during bombing". The fact that the VJ actions were synchronised with the announcement of the intention of the Federal Constitutional Court to proclaim the Montenegrin Amnesty Law unconstitutional, is even less considered a coincidence.

According to the local analysts, it is rather an announcement of the imminent intensification of the conflict between Podgorica and Belgrade. And, until now, VJ proved as the potentially strongest weapon of the Belgrade regime for disciplining Montenegro.

Aleksandar Komnenic

(AIM)